the only job that's better is the one that obama has. [laughter] [applause] new york is the city that gives and gives and gives again. its wisdom is not so much its culture, but in the collective genius of its people. many of us arrived here as aspirants seeking a better life, and quite a few achieved everything we ever dreamed of and more. after childhood split between trenton, new jersey, and harlem during the great depression, you see, my father and mother separated when i was about 6 or 7. my mother brought me here to new york. she and her mother, my grandmother, were domestics, cooking and cleaning for perhaps a dollar a day. keep in mind, i'm kind of old. i was born this -- in 1927. but we were never, never hungry. never went to bed hungry, clothes were clean because my here and grandmother scrubbed them, sewed up the holes. and i was poor, but i didn't want know it as achild -- i didn't know it as a child. so i'm really quite fortunate. but the time came when i went back to trenton because it was determined that my father could be